Mandurah fishing excursion

We went down to Mandurah to chase some whitings and herrings again. I hooked up three whitings last week but dropped all of them, so I was hoping that I would be able to land fish this time.

Unfortunately it was too windy to chase whitings on flats (we need to be able to sight-fish for them to avoid hooking up countless blowies), so we decided to chase herrings in stead.

I was actually there on Friday after work, and I was catching herring after herring, so we were hoping that we would do the same this afternoon.

It didn't take long for me to hook up my first herring on a goat hair deceiver which was working wonderfully on Friday.

I put fish back without taking a picture thinking more fish to follow. It turned out be the only fish I landed today (I got another one on a deer hair popper, but it got off). So, there is no picture of fish today unfortunately.



先週末に続き、キス（yellowfin whiting)を釣りにマンジュラへ行きましたが、風が強く、波が立っていてサイトフィッシングが出来ない状態。ブラインドでは釣れるのはフグばかりなので、キスはあきらめてHerring（日本で言う所のニシンとは似ても似つかないですが）にターゲットを変更。

フライを白いディシーバー風のフライに変えると直ぐに一匹目がヒット。普通、一匹釣れれば数匹は同じ場所で釣れるのですが、今日は一匹釣った後は当たりがさっぱり無くなりました。場所を変えると今度はディアヘアーのポッパーに一投目から来ましたが、その後は同じ結果。金曜日の仕事帰りのちょい釣りでは、同じ毛針に入れ食い状態でしたが、どうしてか今日は後が続かない状態でした。

週末は、地元の沢山の地元の人がカニ（ガザミ）を求めてフラフラとフラットを歩き回るので、もしかしたら魚は深い場所へ逃げてしまうのかもしれません（そう言えば、今回はフグの数も少なかった気がします）。

East Perth

My friend was telling me that fishing has been good around East Perth, so we went down there today after having lunch at a yum cha restaurant at Northbridge.

We found a stretch of the water where the bottom was very rocky with the steep drop offs running along the bank. Fishes were holding tightly against the edge of the drop offs which were only 1 m off the bank.



The water was constantly being disturbed because of passing boats and jet skies, and breams were probably there waiting bait fishes to be helplessly tumbled around by the waves.

At the end I landed one and got broken off once while my friends were catching 3 or 4 fish each, which was a fine result for being on a new water, I guess.



友達からの情報では、East Perthの周りでクロダイが釣れているとの事なので、今日は、スワンリバーへ釣りに。

岩場の多いポイントで、魚は岸から１m程の落ち込みに着いていました。岩に根がかりするのを避けて深い場所へキャストすると当たりが遠くなり、フライを岸と平行に落ち込みの上を泳がしてあげるのが良かった様です。

A chunk of concrete looked like a frog trying to come out of the water

Mandurah reconnaissance mission

We went down to Mandurah today as our reconnaissance mission to check out flats down there for potential sight fishing spots for breams (Walpole is a great place but we can drive 5 hours on every weekend).

Being big, flat, and sandy, I thought Mandurah Estuary would be a good place to chase breams, but everyone lives in Manduarh that I have spoken to pretty much said, "It is a good place to catch crabs but I haven't seen any fish there". Anyway it wasn't sounding that promising, but I had to see the place for myself.

新たなクロダイのスポットを探しに、パースから車で南に一時間。

地元のローカル情報では、フラットにはフグしかいないとの事。ただ自分たちの目で見ない事にはやっぱり何とも言えないので、とりあえずフラットを探索する事に。

At first, we stopped at one of boat harbours down there as my source was telling that breams would be swimming around there.

We found breams there as I was told, and they were actually in a good numbers, but we soon realize that they were too smart to fall for our flies.

Also there were too many blowies getting in our ways. So we played around for a half hour or so, and we moved to a flat near by.

フラットに行く前に他の仲間を待ちがてらボートハーバーをチェック。すると良い数のクロダイが大量のフグの群れに混じって泳いでいるのが見えました。

全員集合後３０分程ボートハーバーで釣りましたが、クロダイは投げるフライを全て見切り、フグは投げるフライには全て食い付く状態で、結局ハーバーのクロダイはあきらめて早々とフラットへ移動。

To cut a story short, we didn't see any bream on the part of the estuary we were there today. However we found out that the place was full of whitings.

They were swimming in a very shallow water, and we could sight fish for them. Those whitings weren't as spooky as breams in Walpole, however they were super selective (breams down at Walpole were suckers compared with those whitings).

The whitings were happy to chase flies but they weren't hitting them, and we kept chasing them for a hour without success. As our frustration was reaching at a peak, we came across with a school of herrings, and we were very happy to have them for change as they were very eager to hit flies. It was fun to catch them and see them jumping out of water.

結論から言うと、ハーバーのパイロン周り以外ではクロダイは一匹も見ませんでした。

大きなフラットで透明度も高く、見るからに良さそうなのですが肝心のクロダイの影はまったく無し。代わりにフラットの至る所でキスを発見。ところが見つけるは簡単でしたが、釣るのはクロダイよりも難しかったです。フライには結構な頻度で反応するのですが、追いかけてくるだけで、まったくフライには口を使いません。

フラットを歩きながらキスにキャストを続けましたが、途中の落ち込みの周りでHerringの群れに当たった意外はまったくの釣果。

However a miracle does happen to people with dedication though. Stephen finally hooked up whiting (he actually got 3 hook ups) after making cast after cast at schools of whiting at the edge of a drop off.

しばらくして、目の前の落ち込みの駆け上がりの上にキスが十数匹群れが来ました。そこにすかさず友達がオレンジ色のチャーリー系のフライをキャストすると、待望の当たりが来ました。

I realize that my trusty bream flies weren't working, so I borrowed an orange fly from Stephen, that he got his fish on, but I just couldn't get a hook up. They were chasing the fly to have a nibble, but that was all I could get.

We then decided to head back to the car, and I was still casting at every whiting I could see. I just was desperate to catch one, but the result was the same. They was happy to follow the fly but didn't take it.

As I was almost ready to accept my defeat, I saw a scum line in front of me with weeds drifting on the surface. I was thinking that there might be fish or two underneath, so I cast at it, then strip, strip, and "Bang".

I got my first whiting, and It was a very beautiful fish. It was caught with blind casting, but I was very happy to get that fish.

僕も同じフライを友達からもらってキャストしましたが、フライへの反応は良くなりましたが、相変わらず追ってくるだけでフッキングはしませんでした。

車へ戻りながら、見つけたキスには全てキャストしましたが、結果は同じ。しかし諦めかけた所で目の前に潮の流れに乗りながら流されて行く海藻をいくつも発見。もしかしたら海藻の下にキスがいるかもと思いキャストしてゆっくりと引いてくると待ちに待った当たりが。

結果的にはブラインドでの一匹となりましたが、それでも一匹は一匹、しかもフライフィッシングでキスを釣ったのはこれが初めて。クロダイではありませんが、新たなサイトフィッシングのフィールドが発見できました。




My first whiting. It was a lovely looking fish.

Back to home water

I believe that if people can't find beauty and wonder in their own back yards, they will not find any of those in anywhere else in the world.

Sure fishing in places like Walpole is amazing, but I sometime forget that I can still have fine fishing 10 min down the road.

So, I have been back to the Canning for the last few days just to remind myself that our home river still has some beautiful stretches and it still holds many surprises.

Walpoleへの旅行から数日経って、何時もの様に近所の川へ。

旅行から帰った後、家で飲む一杯のお茶に心が和む様に、馴染みの流れに立つと肩の荷が降りて、ほっとします。

遠い所にある川やフラットはとても魅力的ですが、もしかしたら一番良いのはホームウォーターと呼べる、釣り慣れた、どうってこと無い場所なのかもしれません。

My first fish since we came back from Walpole




A good one on the last cast at the end of our Friday night session.

Walpole field day

I went back to Walpole to attend the fly fishing club field day on the last weekend, and I had some very fine fishing sessions over there.

今回、クラブのメンバーとまたWalpoleに行って来ました。金曜の昼に出て日曜の夕方に帰ってくる日程だったので、釣りのできる時間は前回よりも短かったのですが、とても良い結果に終わりました。

Despite of some rain clouds kept moving around over our heads, the weather and water were bit warmer this time, and fishes were definitely more active compared to they were about a month ago.

We saw many fishes coming onto flats to feed, and some of the club members were telling that they were catching fish after fish on one spot having large schools of breams hanging around in front of them.

曇ったり小雨が降ったりと、天気は前回と同様に落ち着きが無く、サイトフッシングには最高とは言えないコンディションでしたが、魚の活性は前回よりも格段に高く、フラットに多くの魚が入って来ていました。

Although I have caught countless number of breams on my home water, sight fishing for breams was something new to me, and it was really fantastic to be able to spot and catch breams as they come onto flats at Walpole.

I must admit that it took some time for me to adjust my eyes to my new sight fishing targets. I am good at spotting trouts even on fast flowing rivers, but I was chasing breams this time and I didn't know what I was looking for.

However, once I started seeing a few breams, finding them was getting easier. Unlike trouts in the river, breams move around a lot and often swim in numbers which helped me to spot fish.


Walpoleの最大の魅力は何よりもクロダイがサイトフィッシングが出来る事です（普段クロダイを釣っている川で、クロダイをサイトフィッシングで狙える場所は桟橋周りなどのごく限られた場所だけです）。

そこで、Walpole二度目の今回の目標はサイトでクロダイを釣る事だったのですが、正直言って最初の一匹を見つけるのは結構難しかったです。

新しいターゲットに目が慣れていないので、最初は見つけられる魚は全てスプークして逃げさって行く魚だけでした。それでもその内に目が慣れてくると魚がキャスティングレンジに入って来る前に見つけられる様になりました。

Having said that, those single cruising fishes were still extremely difficult to spot and catch. Having no competitor around them, solo fishes have more time to inspect flies before deciding to smash. They were also much spookier than fishes hanging in schools and they just took off to horizon once they got spooked.

魚を見つけられる様になれば、釣り自体は比較的簡単でした。釣り人のプレッシャーが少ないWalpoleのクロダイは普段相手にしているクロダイの様にフライを選ぶなんて事はせず、目の前１mに落ちたフライを追いか けて行きます。

特に５匹くらいのスクールで泳いでいる魚は我れ先にと競ってフライにアタックして来ました（さすがに大きい魚や独りで泳いでいる魚は釣るの が難しいかったですが）。

The most of fish that we were catching were somewhere between 25cm to 30 cm (the average size of fish in Walpole is probably a bit better than what we get in the metro waterways).

Big ones are still rare and very smart, and they don't fall easily even in a place like Walpole where they see less people. I am guessing that around 300 fishes were caught during this club field trip, but only one of them were reaching 40 cm mark.

Interestingly however, over 150 or so fish that me and my friends caught last year on the Canning and Swan, 3 or 4 were over or around 45 cm, and quite few were just under 40 cm. This gives me a belief that a chance of getting really nice fish around Perth is still quite good.

魚のアベレージは２５cmから３０cm位で、今回の旅行ではメンバー合わせて３００近い魚が釣れました。その中で４０cmに達したのはただの１匹でした。

面白い事に、アベレージサイズが若干低い僕のホームリバーですが、去年一年間で釣った魚の数が１００位だとして、その中で４０cmクラスが３匹、３５cmオーバーがさらに数匹という結果。こう考えると「釣れない」と周りから言われているCanning Riverの方が結果的には大きい魚が釣れている事になります。

Anyway, this was my second visit to Walpole, and I now know why people get bothered to drive 5 hours to go down there.

The place is just loaded with breams, and they appear to be much more eager to chase and hit flies than those fish in the metro water, and they do that in very shallow clear water.

On top of the fine fishing they offer, it is just a beautiful place to be, and I feel that is an enough reason for me to go back there again in near future.

車で５時間と遠いWalpoleですが、みんなが騒ぐだけの魅力がある場所です。４月に入って雨が降りだすと魚の活性が下がると言われていますが、その前にもう一度行ってみたいです。